There are many who will argue that no news is good news. Take Kenan Cerimagic, news editor of national Bosnian television channel NTV Hayat, for example.
‘As long as my country’s not on CNN, I’m happy. It’s when I see a neighbour’s house or street that I recognise on the news that I start worrying. The only time we make it onto CNN is when something bad happens,” he smiles.
The same criticism is leveled by Musimbe Kanyoro, a Kenyan who heads the World Young Women’s Christian Association.
‘Africa does not get a fair deal from global media such as CNN and the BBC. You have to wait for something horrible to happen before Africa gets any attention at all. When I used to watch US television coverage of Africa, I didn’t know that the continent being discussed was my own.”
It’s a criticism Eric Ludgood, managing editor of CNN International, takes exception to. Covering the world from his Atlanta office, he’s adamant his network does a better job of reporting on Africa than others.
‘We don’t cover every story, but then again we shouldn’t be expected to. If the president of Nigeria makes a statement, we cover it. If it happens, we report on it. But we’re a global network and therefore won’t cover stories in the same way as does a local station such as the SABC. We cover stories that are interesting to a global audience and that affect large numbers of people. We have correspondents all over the world constantly making decisions as to which stories we should report on.”
The subjectivity inherent in this story selection, argues Ludgood, is part and parcel of journalism.
‘Subjectivity is what we do. As journalists, we’re trained to look at which stories are important to a world audience. At the end of the day we all pretty much agree with one another. Journalists in our newsroom might disagree as to how important a particular story is, but very rarely will there be disagreement over whether or not to include a certain story in that day’s news bulletins.”
The decision is influenced largely by what the audience is perceived to be interested in. A global viewership is a difficult market and if research is anything to go by, those who watch CNN International (CNNI) fall within the top twenty percent of the socio-economic bracket and speak English as a second language. As they tend to be people already interested in international affairs, it’s the usual story of preaching to the converted. Whatever coverage CNNI gives on Africa will be largely superficial for them, while the viewers who know little to nothing about the continent (the average American) don’t even have access to CNNI. Which begs the question: who, exactly, does CNN’s global coverage appeal to?
‘I’ve often heard the argument that American viewers are not interested in international news, but I don’t buy that,” remarks Rena Golden, executive vice president and general manager of CNNI. ‘I think people are very, very interested in what’s happening internationally, we need just to present it to them in a compelling way. I’m pleased that we no longer tell only stories of war and strife from Africa and have made a conscious decision to focus more on stories which look at development on the continent.”
But when compared with other regions, the amount of airtime given to Africa still falls dramatically short of what it should be. ‘There are problems of access, accessibility and poor technology. The sheer size of the continent also makes covering it very difficult,” sums up Golden.
It’s an assessment Bill Burke, producer of the network’s half-hour weekly ‘Inside Africa’ show readily agrees with.
‘Technology in many African countries is very poor. Even if we get there, without the infrastructure to match our equipment, broadcasting from there is very difficult. There are also very few large television networks on the continent, and even fewer that are able, like our European affiliates, to do breaking news.
‘Security is another problem. There’s always the question of how best to tell a story without running into trouble with the authorities. CNN won’t refrain from telling a story because of this, [but] it does make it very difficult. One has to respect the law and culture of a country. While I believe that in 95 percent of countries, the authorities won’t detain one for telling a particular story, they’ll definitely not allow you back in.”
Just as problematic is the shortage of correspondents on the continent. CNN has only four bureaus in Africa – Johannesburg, Lagos, Cairo and Nairobi – and although it uses freelancers extensively, Burke admits that in certain regions like North Africa, there are countries that are hardly ever covered.
Says Burke: ‘Inside Africa is not only about information, but it has an education function as well. For years, Africa was regarded as the ‘dark continent’. The thinking was that whatever happened in Africa did not impact significantly on world events. The continent was thought of as a battleground for the cold war. But things are changing now, with a new breed of African leaders who want to be part of the rest of the world. September the eleventh also showed that we all impact on one another. Terrorists will stretch their hands anywhere and to some extent America is responsible for extending terrorism into Africa.”
But just how much impact can a half-hour weekly show have, particularly when tasked with covering the world’s second largest continent?
‘Obviously we’re not there yet, but the attention given to Africa is improving. There was a time not so long ago when it would have been impossible to open a bureau in Lagos, Nigeria. We are changing the way people perceive and cover Africa. But it takes time. Since the show started three years ago, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and not just from African viewers, but from people around the world.”
Africa has traditionally been thought of as poor man’s news, not just because it reflected a continent in poverty, but because those in positions of media power gave little importance to issues facing Africans. While perceptions might have changed – indeed CNN executives are at pains to point out they have – the reality is that in an ever-increasing technological world, the challenge of how to tell the poor man’s news has just gotten more difficult.
Paula Slier is a senior reporter and stand-in anchorwoman at SABC news. She
was posted to the Middle East during the Iraqi conflict, and recently spent
four weeks on an internship at the CNN head office in Atlanta.